Stacey Flood confident Ireland can kick on at Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town

Ireland have enjoyed their best season on the Sevens circuit but Stacey Flood believes the best is yet to come.

Having finished fourth in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and claimed podium finishes in Spain and Canada, Ireland head to Cape Town on a high and as challengers for the Rugby World Cup Sevens.

They face Brazil in their opening match on Friday (12.54pm Irish time).

"It's been really exciting, a great season for us," Flood told RTÉ Sport. "But we want to keep building and not just have those once-off or twice-off performances.

"Throughout the year we have been building and getting better and I think people are starting to see that, and that's even more promising, so hopefully we can do ourselves justice this weekend."

The World Cup brings back happy memories for Flood, one of five members of current squad that finished sixth four years ago in San Francisco, where they defeated England 19-14 in their opening match.

"That was one of my favourite games of all time, us beating England," she said. "It was knockout as well, so knocking them out of a World Cup, I think it was a little bit sweeter that it was England.

"My other favourite game is from this year, in Seville, getting to a final. Obviously we didn't win but that was my favourite tournament, and it had been the World Cup before that, so hopefully this World Cup has something special to bring as well for us."

Ireland have been handed a difficult draw, with New Zealand their likely opponents in the quarter-finals and France or Fiji in the semis.

But belief is high following those performances in Seville, where they beat Brazil in the pool stages - Flood scoring the opening try in a 29-12 win - and ousted Canada and England in the knockout stages before being edged